In Matthew Strauss’ estimation, he and his wife, Iris, collect three kinds of art: “oh, oh my, and oh my gosh.” n One of their first “oh my gosh” moments occurred in 1987, when they encountered Gerhard Richter’s work at Germany’s “documenta” — a modern and contemporary art exhibition — on a trip with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s contemporary collectors’ group. n “We didn’t know what we were doing,” said Strauss, whose family foundation is lending a selection of 13 more recently acquired pieces to the University of San Diego for an exhibition. “But we loved it, because we loved color.”

'Game Changer': New Media and Multiples From the Matthew and Iris Strauss Family Foundation

Although they didn’t find an appropriate work to buy at the “documenta” exhibition, the group, led by MCASD director Hugh Davies, later connected with Richter’s German dealer, who offered the Strausses two prime canvases, a large 1981 abstraction and a 1968 “townscape.”

“Matt was agonizing over which to get,” Davies recalled. “And I said to him, ‘If you really want to be a serious Richter collector, you get them both.’ ”

Strauss cut a deal for the two works on the spot, and they have pride of place in the Strausses’ now extensive, wide-ranging collection.

“I knew at that moment, if somebody is that passionate and can be that decisive, he was going to turn out to be a great collector,” Davies said. “And he has.”

The Strausses are now considered among the region’s elite collectors and the only locals included in the 2012 “ARTNews 200 Top Collectors.” Their collection is divided between their personal holdings and the Matthew and Iris Strauss Family Foundation, which houses approximately 60 works in a separate building.

Although the nonprofit foundation frequently lends individual works to museums and admits tour groups (collectors groups from the San Jose Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art recently visited), the USD exhibit represents the first time the foundation has lent a selection of its works to an institution.

“I think the foundation has provided them with an outlet to be bold and collect some younger artists they might not otherwise collect,” said Derrick Cartwright, USD’s director of university galleries and a member of the foundation’s board (as is Davies).

“In the foundation, you’ll find artists like Vanessa Beecroft, Sam Taylor-Wood, a lot of young artists, a lot of women artists, artists of color from all over, who are being integrated into this very revered collecting practice the Strausses have established.

“I admire that. A lot of people who are among the top collectors in the world might look at this as a kind of investment. I think Matt and Iris at this point have collected what excites them and now they want to share it.”

Taking chances

The Strausses repeatedly emphasized they like to collect art “that makes you look at art differently,” but beyond that?

“We do have a bit of a criteria,” said Matthew Strauss. “We have to love the artist and it has to be among the best works of an artist. …”

“… that we can afford to purchase,” chimed Iris Strauss.

“And it has to be somebody who has had some critical review to put it into context,” said Matthew Strauss. “But we do take chances occasionally.”

Several of those chances are among the USD works, which are primarily based in new media, video and photography. Still, there is one canvas, a dark work by Angela de la Cruz, “Hung 4” (2009).

“It looks like it’s been in some sort of accident,” Cartwright said. “The canvas is not neatly stretched, and the image is a void, as opposed to something to contemplate. And to have a work like that at the beginning of the 21st century throws into question the practice of painting. That’s interesting to think about in a show that’s all about the new technologies that artists are deploying to make work.”

Cartwright’s favorite work in the exhibit, however, is Fred Wilson’s “Picasso/Whose Rules,” which is essentially a full-size reproduction of Picasso’s iconic “Demoiselles,” but superimposed onto one of the faces — which are inspired by African masks — is a real African mask.

Behind the mask (if you look through the mask’s eyes) is a video of the artist talking art with friends from Senegal (“Whose rules decide what is great? … If your modern art is our traditional art, does that make our contemporary art your cliché?”).

“So you are actually looking through this monument of modern art to a contemporary discussion and argument about what counts in modern art,” Cartwright said. “It’s a fantastic work by an artist (who) I think is really one of the great living artists of our time.

“Just to bring that one object to USD, to me, is the sign of something important to come.”

Practical considerations

While the Strauss Foundation provides a mechanism for the couple to more widely share their art, it also fulfills several equally practical functions (which is why foundations have become commonplace among high-end collectors). It provides tax advantages (they are able to “de-accession” art from their personal collection into the foundation), although it carries certain responsibilities (including making the art public). It also is an important estate planning tool, which is critical to museums that rely on collectors like the Strausses, including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

“I wish the museum had the same (acquisition) budget Matt and Iris have,” Davies said. “Without collectors, we wouldn’t have a museum, period. As with most museums in the country, something like 75 percent of the works that enter the museum enter as gifts, rather than as museum purchases with the museum’s own resources. We’ve been helped immeasurably (by collectors).”

Matthew Strauss, who is the incoming president of the board of the museum, indicated that he and his wife would like their collection to stay in the community, which is good news for local museums.

Works like those Gerhard Richter paintings they acquired in 1987 are now out of reach, not only for museums, but even for collectors at their level.

The Strausses, like most collectors, aren’t about to do the numbers or assign values in public, other than to say that the Richter works are “priceless.”

But consider that last year, rock star Eric Clapton sold a Gerhard Richter painting at Christie’s he had bought in 2001 for $3.2 million. That painting, “Abstraktes Bild,” went for $34.2 million, breaking the auction record for a living artist.

Oh my gosh.

Art at USC

Since arriving at USD last year, director of university galleries Derrick Cartwright has been working to “activate” the institution’s art spaces. Here are four exhibitions (in addition to “Game Changer” at the Student Life Pavilion) either already up or soon to open at the university:

“Beyond the Book: Fresh Perspectives on the Print Collection”: Through May 26 in the Robert and Karen Hoehn Family Galleries in Founders Hall.

“Reconsidering Rouault: Prints and Paintings From Three San Diego Collections”: Through May 26 in the Robert and Karen Hoehn Family Galleries in Founders Hall.

“Old Chocolate and Other Surprises: Learning From the May Collection”: Through May 27 in the David W. May Gallery in Serra Hall.

“Shadow Lives”: March 15 through May 26 in the Fine Art Galleries in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.